kgwilson

Cheap power outlet USB ports are terrible for radio interference. Good quality ones don't interfere at all. Bluetooth connectivity doesn't seem to cause interference but WiFi does even though the frequency is miles away at 2.4 GHz and 5 GHz. Bluetooth uses the 2.4GHz to 2.483 but is much lower power so it may be the WiFi signal strength that is the issue.

Just finished my second so am about to catch up.

Looks nice, strong, goes fast and very economical at 120 knots. The kit is basically just an assembly job with paint & wiring so looks pretty simple. Not for a real builder though.

Like they say, one beer isn't enough, 2 beers is enough and 3 beers isn't enough. I am having my say before any beers and even more vocally after more than the second number that is not enough.

I am constantly amazed at how a thread about an aircraft incident can evolve into something entirely different with this one after half a page changing from beer, cigarettes and wine and now back to beer part way in to page 3 in just 4 days. Meanwhile important things like ASAs modified lowering of Class E airspace is all but being ignored

Yes the Australian political system should be a beacon to be revered but instead it is almost everything that is wrong with the democratic system at about the same level as the USA. With the graft and corruption no wonder democracy is in decline worldwide. I see that there were 4 of the latest multi $billion lemons flying in formation there. Rumours are that pilots hate the F35s, the jack of all trades and master of none.

On 30/03/2021 at 1:28 PM, Bruce Tuncks said:

There is a lot of nonsense in the wine industry, and the one about quality is proportional to price is the biggest bit of nonsense ever written.

Price is determined by how much you can get for it. There is a niche for real expensive stuff, bought by people who are trying to impress others.

Here's  the truth...  wine made from good grapes with no stuff-ups by the winemaker will be good. In Australia, it is hard to buy local wine in bottles which is poor quality. The bottling etc is just too expensive to waste on bad wine, and also the winemaker will have his reputation to think of.

Wine is just fermented grape juice after all.

If you don't believe me, try doing a tasting where the drinkers only know a number and not the price. 

 

 

I dispute that it's hard to buy poor quality bottled wine. At a BBQ someone brought a bottle labelled Gossips. It wasn't quite vinegar  but close. I saw it later at the bottlo for $3.00, so $2.00 for the bottle and $1.00 for the contents.

1 hour ago, 408059 said:

Ironpot

 

That was my initial thought. I can live with this change. But this is how freedom is often lost.....incrementally. I'm still interested in the evidence and risk assessment that require the change of rules. My mind wonders as to whether they are simply following some sort of international obligation, whether there is empire building at hand etc. We'll probably never know.

There is no international obligation. That is just political spin and absolute rubbish. Ausalpa have exposed that in their original submission Excerpt below

“International consistency”

The proposal makes two claims: Delivery of the AMP will ensure closer alignment to the International Civil Aviation Organisation (ICAO) system and proven United States practice of airspace management

Australian airspace accords with the ICAO classifications set out in Section 2.6 Classification of airspaces of Annex 11. Importantly, Section 2.4 Determination of the need for air traffic services merely identifies considerations rather than prescriptions, a process with which the determination of Australian airspace classification is already entirely consistent. Nothing in this proposal changes our alignment with ICAO. Aligning Australia’s airspace system with the FAA system requires replication of the US CNS capability and of the related procedures. AusALPA has no evidence that such a replication has been achieved in Australia or of which elements of the FAA system are confirmed as capable of excision, or selective application, without systemic consequences. More importantly, there is no evidence that the government has accepted the level of collision risk associated with the FAA system when key CNS elements are not provided. AusALPA doubts that the two claims have any relevance to the majority of Australian airspace users – they are political and promotional claims rather than safety or efficiency claims.

On 23/03/2021 at 12:08 PM, RossK said:

Whilst it's better, it's still garbage compared to what we have.

I typically cruise at 5500 - 7500 depending on bumps and direction i'm heading.

being stuck at 4500 would have made some of my recent trips very uncomfortable.

How do we convey to ASA that this is still not acceptable.

Complete the RAA survey & make sure you add all of the issues in the comments box to every question.  

The Ausalpa response is to the original proposal not ASA's hastily revised proposal which has just as many drawbacks and I am sure that they are now preparing a response to the latest ASA proposal. It is heartening that their views reflect those of the vast majority of GA and RA pilots with some very scathing comments especially relating to the competency of ASA itself.

 RA-Aus have created a survey in the last Enews Email dated 29 march based on the changes now proposed by ASA. I have completed the survey and it is well worth the effort to make your voice heard. The results will be taken by RAA to ASA. The latest ASA proposal consultation closes on 30 April so RAA will need a few days I expect to collate their response. I will be making a personal submission on the revised proposal myself as well.

The anti China rhetoric gets right up my nose. I've seen articles lately saying how China wants to start a war. Why do that? They can easily turn economic screws that will have far greater impact. China is the worlds factory now as the west doesn't want to make anything any more so most manufacturers have no capacity or capability to compete. Then we complain about quality when we wanted everything made at a cheaper price. There is cheap Chinese crap but plenty of high quality stuff as well. It just costs more.

There may be an authoritarian government but now there is no Chinese poverty and the population is over 1.4 billion. No-one else can make that claim. The progress and incredible infrastructure that has just blown the west to bits in the last 20 years is staggering.

If you had you would be eligible to join the ground high club.

I reckon that is a pretty good summary. The log book should show the number of landings. A privately owned aircraft is likely to have a much smaller number of landings than an ex trainer. Heavy landings is pretty subjective and one pilot will call a heavy landing solid or strong while another will consider it just short of a crash. Whatever, the stress on the airframe is certain to be greater than the average privately owned aircraft with similar hours.

Looks like sour grapes over losing the first round and some political posturing to try and gain an advantage using PACs structural instability. Hopefully PAC will resolve their internal issues, come out stronger and whack the local authority for six.

The only reason to change to 8.33 spacing is congestion. We only changed to 25khz 15 years ago & even then it was barely a necessity with 50khz remaining in more remote areas. At the time the change was considered 80% of respondents to a survey supported the change mainly due to the fact that their radios already supported 25khz spacing. This provides 760 channels, more than enough to ensure no conflicts anywhere given the VHF range even at it's extreme. Europe is the only place in the world where 8.33 khz and therefore 2280 channels is mandated. It is permitted in other countries but not required. Some sections of the spectrum in the US are reserved for specific use but GA is still 25khz spacing there so they don't seem to have congestion issues. 

There is no necessity or plan to change in Australia.

I'd like to see some comments from anyone who has used one of these Wavenet radios which are switchable from 8.33 to 25khz. 8.33 has all the 25khz channels anyway & I imagine the switch is to make it easier to tune without having to go through 3 times as many channels. Although the Microair has a poor reputation mine works fine and has done for 8 years. I like the fact that it is small and light, can monitor 2 frequencies at the same time, has a 100 channel memory and a built in intercom. If the Wavenet proved to be as good I'd certainly consider it if my M760 bites the dust as the price is certainly right.

I just checked the website which says designed and made in Spain. Cost 1049 Euros plus country tax (VAT,GST) from Aircraft Spruce Europe.

Fuel gauges are notoriously inaccurate whether they are in a motor vehicle or anything else. Depending on damping you get variable readings with changes in pitch, bank and yaw. Wing tanks are terrible to try and gauge as they are long and shallow.

A gauge will give you an indication, that's all. When I built my aircraft I put in an automotive VDO gauge with an adjustable float on an arm similar to a ballcock arrangement and set it to show empty when empty, full when full at 1/2 when actually half full. Then I just added fuel on level ground 5 litres at a time and recorded the position of the indicator against the quantity till full at 100 litres & stuck the chart on the panel next to the gauge. So that gives me a pretty good guess of how much fuel I have when flying straight and level. The indicator did not even start to move till I got 15 litres in (there is a 4 litre sump before any fuel gets to the bottom of the tank) and due to tank shape the gauge marks were completely inaccurate.

I also have 2 wing tanks which I use on long trips to transfer fuel to the main fuselage tank & know how long it takes to transfer the 35 litres in each to the main. As it transfers I see the gauge indicator go up. When a wing tank is empty the Facet electric transfer pump starts to clatter & I can actually hear it.

My calibrated dip stick is the only real accurate indicator and then just knowing the fuel burn is probably the most accurate measure when flying.

A good fuel flow gauge will tell you how much you have used but my setup & method is good enough for me. My legal reserve is 12 litres but I have never got anywhere near that as I always want a minimum of 20 litres left, and almost always more.

Published weight should include everything required for the engine to run and power the aircraft successfully other than the battery, solenoid and regulator and electrical connections in my opinion. The same goes for price. You just can not believe anything published until you add all the extras and the variability in using such comparison charts without this data makes this information useless.

Total horse manure with no actual chart detail & they finally realised that they have to express their base levels in AMSL as any student knows. 4500 at South Grafton but the ranges rise quickly all around so there will be a complex set of boundaries. The so called "appropriately equipped" aircraft is obviously based on existing procedures. The transponder requirement in lowered class E is still the killer issue. If they allow no transponder up to 8500 & push VFR ADSB in/out below this (i.e. Skyecho 2) & subsidise it like the UK that would seem acceptable but then why change it at all. Still no demonstrated or evidence based safety benefits.

I haven't visited this thread for a while so a couple of comments. Jab 3300A Gen 3 with standard Jab airbox connected to the carb via a custom made sideways mounted bulbous Cobra Head with adjustable vane for directing air L/R into the carb inlet.

1. My borescope has a tiny round mirror attachment which is angled to look back at 170 degrees or so. I can rotate the probe 180 degrees to see the whole head and valves. I've always run Mogas so it is pretty clean.
2. I have never noticed any change in rpm with carb heat on runup but did when I was on base one time & a C172 whose radio had failed flew under me on final & I had the carb heat on. I forgot about it & went full throttle. The engine would not develop full power & then I realised carb heat was on. Pushed it off and instant power so it does work. As for mags there is only a noticeable drop when checking at idle, none at 2000 rpm runup.

The spacing started at 200khz & went to 100khz in 1947, 50khz in 1954 & then to 25khz in 1972 & in 1990 extra bandwidth was added to provide 760 useable channels. At this stage only Europe has gone to 8.33 khz spacing due to congestion. There are no plans to do this here AFAIK as there is no congestion.

A lot of (cheaper) phones and iPads have AGPS only. The A stands for "Assisted" and the assistance is provide by the cellular system which can be fairly accurate in an area with a lot of towers so you get reasonable triangulation. In more remote locations it is useless. Quality phones have their own GPS chips and don't rely on the cellular system. It also depends on what system they use. Some use multiple systems, some only 1 or 2. There is GPS (US) Glonass (Russia), BeiDou (China) Gallileo (Europe) and there are regional Japanese and Indian systems. If you have a Spot tracker it uses a private GPS system called Globalstar (who own Spot) which is very accurate (to within a few feet). This covers most land masses like all of the continents, Australia & NZ,  but not Antarctica and large areas of ocean.

It's a pity Microair no longer produce their radios. I had problems initially but they were related to installation & wiring & not the radio. The ability to monitor 2 frequencies simultaneously and the compact size with light weight and built in intercom made them ideal for light aircraft. Mine is still going well 7 years on.

Most metal aircraft have some plastic bits. Cessnas etc all have plastic or FG wing tips and various fairing mouldings, spats etc. My aircraft while ostensibly aluminium has plenty of plastic bits as well. Good quality 2 pack paint protects it well from UV. It is always hangared except when I am away & have to park outside. The worst thing is not the body but the upholstery. Even though I have a tinted canopy and have painted the top of it the upholstery has faded really markedly in 5 years. I look at my original photos and compare them to the faded out colour now & it is pretty bad.

I think than tornado is the correct description with mini describing its size. When I was hang gliding we called them dust devils as they always occured when it was hot & dry presumably due to small thermals popping off and tiny areas of low pressure occurred & they tore along the ground picking up dust, dry grass, leaves etc and hang gliders if they were parked in the way. One happed at the launch site at Coronet Peak when about 40 gliders were set up. Created absolute havoc

Prop & tail look like they escaped injury but probably some serious stuff to the wing and spars.